Now we come today to Verse 6, and I’d like to read it here in the 15th Chapter of Genesis.

And he (that is Abraham) believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Now here is one of the great chapters of the Bible, and this is one of the great verses of the Bible.  You will recall that God appeared to Abraham after his victory over the kings of the east, and God had protected him.  “I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1).  And this man Abram is a little disturbed.  He asked about the fact that he doesn’t have a child; one born in his house is the one that will inherit and be in the line.  And God took him by the hand, it was night, and led him out, and said, “Look yonder toward the stars.  If you can number them, well, you can number your offspring.”  He couldn’t number the stars.  He could see approximately about 4,000, but there probably were over 50,000 in that area where he was looking.  He couldn’t number them; he couldn’t number his offspring.  You couldn’t today.  

Now Abraham believed God.  Actually, what it means is Abraham said, “Amen” to God.  God says “I’ll do this for you,” and Abraham said to God, “I believe you, Amen!  I believe it!”  And that was counted to him for righteousness.  Now this is so important that we need to make a check on this.  Paul used it.  For instance, you have him in the 4th Chapter of Romans, Paul quotes this verse, and let me read that beginning with Verse 1 of the 4th Chapter of Romans.

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?  

Or let me change that reading:  …Abraham has found as pertaining to the flesh?  I think that that brings out the meaning better.  

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it (that is, his faith) was counted unto him for righteousness. 

For that’s what it was not, but that’s what God counted it.

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.  

Now if you can work for your salvation, then God owes it to you.  But, my Friend, God never saves by any other means except grace.  He’s never had any other method of saving.  And if you ever get saved, it will be because you believed God.  You accept Christ as your Savior.  You believe that God has provided this salvation for you.  And He makes it very clear here in Verse 5:

But to him that worketh not (no works at all), but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly (What kind of folk? Ungodly folk), his faith is counted for righteousness.  (Romans 4:1-5)

It is counted for what it is not, and that’s for righteousness.  Now Abraham just believed God.  He just accepted what God said, and he believed God.  That’s the way you get saved.  It’s to believe that God has done something for you; that Christ died for you and rose again, and God will declare you righteous by simply accepting Christ.

Now in the third chapter of Galatians, you have that same great truth by the way, and we’re told here in Verse 8 of Galatians 3:

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

And then we’re told back in Verse 6:  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  

And then Verse 9:  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.  

The faith that Abraham had made him faithful to God, but he’s not saved by being faithful.  He’s saved by believing God.  That’s all important to see!

Now Abraham was a very practical man.  He was not filled with a phony piousity as we see a lot of that today.  He’s very practical.  He now wants to know something, and he’d like to have something in writing.  Will you listen to Verse 7?

And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.  

Here again God says I’m giving you this land to inherit it, and Abraham doesn’t even have a deed.  He has nothing in writing.  As I said last time, God told him to, “Go down to the courthouse and I’ll meet you down there, and we’ll sign a contract.”  And you say to me, well, I’ve read that in my Bible and it’s certainly not there.  Oh, it is in your Bible; you just have to read it aright though.  

Verse 8, Genesis 15, “And he said”–here’s Abraham now:

And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 

“You’ve told me that; how shall I know it?  I’d like to have it in writing.”  

Now, here’s what God said do.

And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.  And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.  (Genesis 15:9-10)

Now the thing that God said for him to do is that you get a sacrifice; you get a heifer, a she goat, a ram and you divide them down the middle; that is split them right down the middle, put one half on one side and one half on the other.  Turtledoves you don’t divide.  You put one turtledove over here; one over there.  Now when men made a contract in that day, that’s the way they made it.  They would fix a sacrifice like this and the two men who were making a contract—if one man agreed to buy sheep from the other one, the Party of the First Part joins hands with the Party of the Second Part and then they state their contract, one says this I agree to do; the other says then I’ll pay you so much.  They join hands and walk through that.  Now that, in that day, corresponded to going down to the courthouse and signing before a notary.  That’s exactly what took place.  

Now you will notice that Abraham got everything ready according to what God wanted him to do.  Notice Verse 11.

And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

This is sure a very human scene.  If you’d been there, you would have probably have seen all this display of the sacrifices and you’d have known the custom of the day—I probably ought to turn and read from Jeremiah 34:18 for here you have a reference to this custom that was prevalent in that land, not just among these people, but all other peoples in that day.  And here’s a reference to it.  I’m reading Jeremiah 34:18.

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.

You see this was the method in that day of taking the sacrifice and dividing it, and the men then make the contract.  Now Abraham gets everything ready and while he’s waiting for the LORD, why, the fowls of the air come down; the buzzards, the crows, and all other caries.  And Abraham’s there shooing them away.  They were ready to swoop down, and you would say, “Well, Brother Abraham, apparently the one you’re making a contract with hasn’t shown up,” and he said, “No, He hasn’t.”  He says, “I guess He’s late.”  “No,” Abraham says, “I don’t think He’s late; He just told me to get things ready and that He’d be here and make the contract.”

Now notice what happened.  

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.  (Genesis 15:12)

Now this is the thing that took place.  Abraham is paralyzed in sleep and put aside.  Now that seems very strange that God would paralyze him in sleep when he’s supposed to be making a contract.  This is an unusual contract.  God is going to go through because God’s promising something and Abraham’s not going to go through ‘cause Abraham is not promising to do a thing.  He just believed God.  That’s all.  

My Friend, that’s exactly what took place 1900 years ago.  “God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son,” and the Son agreed to come to the earth and die for the sins of the world—your sin and mine—“that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)  And I wasn’t even there; 1900 years I wasn’t even there to make a contract, but God the Father and God the Son did, and He went to the cross, and He died for my sins.  And I was paralyzed with sin: I couldn’t promise anything.  You couldn’t either.  Abraham’s not going to promise anything.  Suppose that God had said to Abraham, “Abraham, if you’ll just promise to say your prayers every night, I’m going to do this for you.”  And suppose Abraham forgets to do this and doesn’t pray one night.  Well, the contract is shot; it’s broken.  And, therefore, God doesn’t need to make His part good.  

God said that He’d do it.  And He’s asking man to do just one thing—say “Amen” to God.  You believe.  Believe what God has done!  Friends, that’s salvation.  And it’s to believe God.  Years ago a dear little Scotch mother, her son had gone away to Glasgow to college, and he came back rather an unbeliever.  And she was talking with the boy and telling about how wonderful God was and that she was sure of her salvation.  Well, he had become skeptical and he was a little provoked, and finally he said, “How do you know you’re saved?  Why,” he said, “Your little soul doesn’t amount to anything,” and he began to compare her to the vastness of the universe and said, “God could forget all about you, and you can’t be sure.”  And she never said anything.  She just kept serving the boy’s breakfast, and finally when she’d finished, she sat down with him.  And she said, “You know, son, I’ve been thinking about it.  Maybe you’re right.  Maybe my little soul doesn’t amount to much, and maybe the vastness of God’s universe would mean He wouldn’t miss me at all,” but she says, “You know, if He doesn’t save me, He’s going to lose more than I’m going to lose.”  And he says, “What do you mean?”  “Well, just as you said, my soul doesn’t amount to anything. I wouldn’t lose much.  But He’s going to lose his reputation.  He promised to do it.  He agreed to do it.”  That whosoever believeth in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.  Friends, God’s the one that went through; God made the contract.

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.  (Genesis 15:13)

In the Scripture it’s predicted these people would be put out of the land three times.  This is the first one.  It’s also predicted they would return back to the land.  They did from this one.  Later on it was the Babylonian captivity; they were carried into captivity; they were returned.  At 70 A.D., Jerusalem was destroyed and again they were scattered.  They have never returned from that, but it’s predicted they will come back some day.  Now God said:

And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.  (And they did.)  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.   (Genesis 15: 14-15)

Abraham would not live to see it, of course.  Verse 16:

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God said, “I can’t put you in this land now, because I love Amorites too, and I want to give them a chance to turn to me.”  And God gave them 400 years; that’s a long time, is it not, to see if they wouldn’t turn to him.  And the only one who turned to Him in that land was that Canaanite, you remember Rahab the Harlot; she’d turned to God.  She believed Him.  And that’s all God asks you to do is to believe him.  But He gave the Amorites all this opportunity.

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

(Genesis 15:17)

Both of those speak of Christ.  The furnace speaks, of course, of judgment.  The lamp speaks of Him as the Light of the World. 

In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.  (Genesis 15:18)  

And God now marks out the land.  By the way, what did Abraham promise to do?  Nothing.  He believed God.  God will save you; saves you by grace, by believing what He’s done for you!

CHAPTER 16

SARAH’S SUGGESTION TO ABRAHAM

Now, we come to Chapter 16, and I must confess that you almost wish Chapter 16 wasn’t in the Bible; that God had left it out.  Because after Abraham rose to the heights here, well, you would say, “Well, believe me, he’s certainly treading on high places now.”  But he’s not perfect.  We see the last of this man’s faith here relative to Sarah and Hagar, the Egyptian maid.  Now let me read Chapter 16, Verse 1.

Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

You see he got two things down in the land of Egypt that really caused him troubles; wealth was one thing and this little Egyptian maid he got down there.

And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.  (Genesis 16:2)

Now the thing that this woman has suggested was the common practice of that day.  When a wife couldn’t bear a child, there was the concubine, and that was common practice for that day.  But don’t say God approved this.  God did not approve of this at all.  This was Sarai’s idea and, frankly, it was not contrary to the custom of the day.  And Abram listened to her.  Looks like he’s surrendering his position as head of the home here.  And he followed her suggestion.

And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.  (Genesis 16:3)

Now this little Egyptian maid becomes the concubine, and this is not according to God’s will.  God’s not going to accept the offspring at all.  He didn’t.  He wouldn’t. Why?  Because it was wrong.  Don’t say God approved this.  All that you can say is that this is in the record because this is a historical fact that took place.  Now we read:

And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.  (Genesis 16:4)

You can see she said, “I’ve mothered a child of Abraham, and Sarah couldn’t do it.”  She looked down on Sarah, you see.  And now notice Verse 5.

And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: Now look, don’t go buy that; don’t say that God approved of this; He didn’t.  God says this is wrong.  Now Sarah sees that that she’s done wrong.  “My wrong be upon me.”  She’s wrong, my Friends.  

… And I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee.

“God doesn’t approve us.”  God will not accept this, and it’s going to be a real heartbreak to old Abraham.  But you see, they’re not really trusting God as they should.  After all, Abraham at this time is 90 years old; Sarah’s 80.  I think they’d come to the conclusion that they were not going to have a child.  I’m of the opinion that probably Sarah could rationalize and say, well, I think maybe this is the way God wants us to do it for this is the custom of the day.  And it was the custom of that day.  But it’s contrary to God’s way of doing things.  

You know, we get the wrong impression if we think that just because it’s in the Bible God approves of it.  The only thing that’s inspired is that it’s an accurate record.  But there are many things that God does not approve of that are recorded in His Word.  This happens to be one of them.

But we’ll have to wait until next time to pick up our story.